


light up the night sky

by Macremae



Category: EOS 10 (Podcast)
Genre: Dragons, M/M, Prince!Ryan, Sorcerer!Akmazian, royale au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 10:37:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7754440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Macremae/pseuds/Macremae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akmazian takes Ryan on a midnight ride.</p>
            </blockquote>





	light up the night sky

**Author's Note:**

> I love whiningwheezingweasel's royale au a lot okay.

The dream forest was just beginning to look slightly menacing when someone began shaking Ryan awake.

He mumbled something unintelligible and pushed the hand on his shoulder away. Sitting upright, he blinked sleepily at the figure before him as it came into focus.

“Huh? Akmazian?”

“Evenin’,” the sorcerer replied looking down at him with poorly concealed excitement. “Put on somethin’ warm and meet me in the courtyard.”

“What? W- what time is it? What do you mean surprise?” Ryan asked confusedly.

“About low noon, I think, and you'll see. Hurry.”

And with that, Akmazian slipped out of Ryan’s chambers with a knowing grin.

Ryan stared at the doorway for a good ten seconds, before sighing and getting out bed.

\--

When he reached the courtyard, Akmazian was waiting. 

There was a chill about, as the first icy winds of winter sliced through the crisp fall air. The stars above the courtyard glittered brightly, a full moon bathing both men in a pool of silver light and glinting off the stones around them. The faint scent of smoke drifted in from above and mixed with one of ripe fruit and dry leaves. 

Ryan eyed the splintery broom Akmazian was mounted on with apprehension. “Please tell me you don't expect me to ride that.”

Akmazian simply grinned in response. “I promise you, it's perfectly safe.”

“Right, because when I hear ‘safe’, I think of riding a glorified piece of driftwood hundreds of feet in the air.”

“A magic glorified piece of driftwood. Really, I won't let y'all fall. Promise.”

Ryan gave him a look, but drew his cloak tighter around him and climbed on. “This had better be worth it,” he grumbled.

The moment the broom rose jerkily from the ground, Ryan made a noise not unlike that of a wet cat and threw his arms tightly around Akmazian’s waist. Akmazian laughed. “I thought y'all weren't afraid of heights?”

“T- this is different! Oh God, if you let me fall I swear-”

“Relax _sire_ , I'm not gonna let you fall. Just keep holdin’ on like that and you'll be fine.”

Ryan made another shrieking noise as they flew out of the courtyard and into the night, rising above the castle until it was only a speck beneath them. The forested countryside was spread out below, with farms and hamlets interlocking together like puzzle pieces. In the distance, the Havanan Mountains rose up in a thick chain, scraping the sky with their snowy peaks. 

Akmazian banked left sharply (“Jes- don't do that!” Ryan yelped), soaring over the dense forest that surrounded Allianca’s village borders. The trees below blurred together in a large, dark clump, making Ryan shudder at the memory of his dream. 

“Hey Ryan,” Akmazian yelled to him over the wind, “if y'all can stop looking down for a moment, the opposite direction is a little less terrifying.”

Ryan glared at him, but looked up.

The stars were huge and blindingly bright this high up. Each constellation seemed less like a picture, and more like a massive celestial mural. They glittered a number of different colors against an inky backdrop, looking almost close enough to touch.

“Oh wow,” Ryan said breathlessly, his words torn away by the wind. 

They flew on for several minutes, before breaking through the cloud cover. Akmazian landed just above a large patch of clouds, and pulled a blanket from his backpack. He tossed it down, then dismounted.

“Akmazian, no wait-!” Ryan began, before watching Akmazian’s feet land lightly on the blanket. He stared in disbelief.

“It's enchanted to turn whatever’s beneath it into solid ground,” Akmazian explained, “sit down, they'll be here soon.”

Ryan gingerly stepped off the broom and took a few steps around, before letting out the breath he didn't know he had been holding, and and sat down next to Akmazian.

“So what exactly are we waiting for?” he asked.

Akmazian glanced around them in reply. His face lit up as a bright white flash flickered in the distance. Ryan frowned. “What was that?”

“You’ll see.”

“Okay, you really need to stop being so cryptic, because I’m seriously beginning to wonder if…”

Ryan trailed off as another burst of light lit up the sky, much closer this time. For a brief moment, it’s source was illuminated. “Is that…”

“Yep,” Akmazian grinned, eyes shining, “dragons.”

Ryan tore his gaze away from the approaching figure. “There’s more than one?”

“Just watch.”

Suddenly, there were several more bursts of light, illuminating a river of shapes flying above them. They were a number of different colors, shapes and sizes, all covered in scales that shone in the mixture of moon and firelight. They wove around each other in every possible direction, swirling in a vortex of color and light. Great plumes of fire spewed from their mouths, matching the stars in it’s brightness. Roars could be heard above the noise of the winds below, and Ryan could feel their heat even from where he was sitting. 

Akmazian looked over at his awestruck expression. “I take it you’re glad you came?”

“This… this is amazing!” Ryan whispered. 

Akmazian smiled at him softly. “Sure is.” He then gazed up at the dragons above them. “Every year, around this time, they migrate south, to where it’s warmer. Need heat and all that. Ever since I could fly I’ve come up here and watched them.”

“Wow.” Ryan glanced over at Akmazian and gave him a smile that sent warmth rushing through every part of the other man. “Thank you, for showing me this. It really is amazing.”

Akmazian tilted his head so his hair obscured his face, trying to hide the color creeping into his cheeks. “Well, Lady Jane told me y’all have been having… uh, nightmares, for a little while know. I thought you, of all people deserved a night off.”

“Oh,” Ryan said quietly, looking back up at the dragons, “you really don’t have to worry about me. I’m okay.”

“No, wait- I didn’t mean- I’m not just doing this because-” Akmazian stammered, desperately trying to backtrack, “I- I would have asked y’all to come with me no matter what. And, I know you aren’t okay, because you have bags under your eyes the size of the castle. Look, Ry, I- a lot of people care about you, and you have a habit of not telling… them, when somethin’s wrong. We can, and will, talk about this later, but for now, I’d really like to just enjoy this with y’all. Okay?”

Ryan continued to stare up at the dragons, and was quiet for a long moment, before giving just the barest hint of a smile. “Okay.”

The migration continued to pass overhead for a while, creating a light show that made the fireworks they used on holidays pale in comparison. Up this high, it normally would have been cold, but the combined heat of the dragons’ fire, and Akmazian and his enchanted cloak, which he had drawn around Ryan the moment he started to shiver, chased away the chill. At one point, Ryan felt his head drop onto Akmazian’s shoulder, but the man was practically a bonfire himself, so he didn’t feel the need to move. The lack of sleep over the past few days began to catch up with him, and flashes of light danced behind his eyelids as he drifted off to sleep.

\--

When Ryan awoke, he was back in his bed in the castle, the first few beams of morning light streaming through his windows. He sat up, disoriented for a moment, before remembering the events of the night, and feeling heat rush to his face. Unless Akmazian had suddenly learned a very accurate teleportation spell… oh boy.

He noticed something around his shoulders, and pulled it off. It was his cloak, but it somehow seemed… different. There was a kind of faint glow to it, and the cloth seemed to radiate heat. Ryan noticed a note pinned to the inside, written in Akmazian’s unmistakable scrawl. 

_A little something for the bad dreams_ , it said.

Ryan stared at it for a moment, trying to figure out what the sorcerer meant by that, when he suddenly realized: he hadn’t had a nightmare that night. 

A small, smile played across his face, and he felt a warm feeling of fondness spread throughout him. 

Outside, a remnant of the night’s wind swirled past the chamber windows, carrying the faint scent of smoke, and the slightest shimmer of magic.


End file.
